KIU student found in bathroom dead

Deceased: Boniface Opirin Boniface

What you need to know:

  • Police preliminary findings indicate that the deceased also had two packets of rat poison in the bag inside his room

Police in Bushenyi District are investigating circumstances under which an engineering student at Kampala International University (KIU) western campus allegedly died by suicide.

Police identified the deceased as Boniface Opirin, a student at the university's School of Engineering in first semester of year one.

The Sunday evening incident happened at Cell D, Ishaka Division in Bushenyi-Ishaka Municipality, according to the greater Bushenyi Police Spokesperson, Mr Marcial Tumusiime, said on Monday morning following .

He said that on Sunday at around 12.30PM, a fellow student staying at the same hostel with the deceased went to pour dirty water in the bathroom and saw Opirin hanging dead.

"This student immediately alerted other students around before making an alarm that attracted the hostel manager who informed the owner and reported the matter to Ishaka police station," he said.

Ms Jolly Kamukama, a businesswoman in Ishaka Division said the deceased has been one of the most disciplined students around.

"I have never had any issue with the deceased ever since he came in. I don't know what could have happened to force him to commit suicide, but I hope police will come to the bottom of the matter," she said.

Police preliminary findings indicate that the deceased also had two packets of rat poison in the bag found inside his room.

"The deceased was found hanging on the rope inside the shared bathroom and had no visible external injuries except the rope mark around the neck," Mr Tumusiime said.

The body of the deceased was taken to Kampala International University Teaching Hospital in Ishaka for postmortem as inquiries into the matter continue.